TAI CHI AND POTENCY
Or: the joy of two arms
two legs
a smile
a spine
a pelvis
ten toes
ten fingers
a belly
two eyes
two ears
and
AWARENESS

On November 22, 2008, I  wrote in my Life Potency blog
about tai chi,
and had some nice pictures
of going through the tai chi form
as a series of tucking in, coiling and rounding
as a pulling in and getting ready to strike

alternating
with
arching the back, pressing from the ground through the
lengthened spine,
uncoiling
striking


Here's the link: Tuck and Coil, then Unfurl and Strike

So what more is there to say?

Tai Chi is fun.

I have another essay on why Tai Chi is grand for you,
with the usual suspects:
going slow,
connecting to yourself,
finding and knowing the use of all four limbs in space,
use of the pelvis,
use of the spine

And here I must interject that tai chi,
like yoga,
is often taught as rigidity
in the sense of demanding a "tucked in" pelvis,
which requires a tightening of the abdomen muscles
which feels like "strength"
and isn't

its a tightness that prevent injury
sort of
by preventing any movement

but, the minor problem
is
preventing movement
is preventing life

(he says, rigidly sitting at a chair
typing into his computer,
okay,
okay,
life
is funny:

and hey you: reading at this computer,
get up now
and do a little tai chi
make it up

any position will do,
just know where your arms and legs are
and then have an idea of the next position of your arms
and legs
and move there

hint:
tai chi is fancy walking
it's always shifting
from right to left to right foot

okay
up,
you and me and all of us and
play the tai chi

game

))))

okay
this is life: moving the legs,
moving the arms

and life is nothing
without being awake

and this is the real trick in standard tai chi
with its obsession with the form

perfection is death in a way
getting better and better and better
even by taking the detour of making it worse for awhile
is life

so how to be awake in tai chi:
feel the power from feet to finger tips in each
pose

feel the coiling in
and preparing for power in each transition

feel the softness in the power
feel the power in the softness

this could be mumbo jumbo
or
it
could be a lot of fun

shut down your computer and do tai chi
or pretend tai chi
for the next half an hour

treat it all as a breathing
and skeletal awareness meditation
and
be aware of everything you see
and hear
as you do
all this

good

and maybe this as the final treat

round,
breathe in,
get ready



breathe out
push out belly
push into ground and hands

brush knee this is called,
one hand pushes forward
one by the other knee

tai chi and yoga

a chance to wake up
or a chance to troll away
in the stale waters of

"this is how to do it"

"this is the RIGHT WAY"

"pay attention," which really means: be vigilant for
'not doing it the Right Way'

but
can, I must admit, at least have the advantage
of helping us be aware of how often
we just make random
movements
and think we know what we are doing

---

so what's the point of tai chi
and yoga
if it isn't to "do 'em right" ?

the point:
do them
and discover how many slow
and varied
and connecting to gravity
and breathing freely
ways
you can do
each and every
"posture"

the posture is
the start not the end:

the real learning:
how to get to the posture
and
transitioning to the next
and
how to be near and beyond
and just off
the posture in a whole lot
of fun, useful, interesting
and possibly amazing
ways

and this isn't improvization:

it's experimenting
and awaring
and
learning


good